Stephen J. Herman

Steve Herman is special counsel in Fishman Haygood’s Litigation Section. With thirty years of experience, Steve’s primary practice has lately focused on representing both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial, class action, and professional liability cases, and he is often asked to provide expert testimony in such matters. He recently, for example, submitted a series of declarations in support of class counsel’s successful fee petition in the multi-billion dollar Aqueous Film-Forming Foam MDL settlements, was hired as a special master to review litigation expenses and allocate awards to hundreds of plaintiffs in a multi-million dollar landfill settlement, and was asked by the Jefferson Parish Ethics and Compliance Commission to conduct an independent ethics investigation of the parish’s Inspector General.

Steve maintains a broad civil practice. He has handled everything from highway defect and products liability cases to fire and flood loss cases, to construction and employment benefits cases, to special appellate work before the Louisiana Supreme Court and other courts of appeal. Notably, in 2010 he was appointed by the Court to serve as one of two Liaison and Lead Class Counsel for all businesses, individuals, and local governments involved in the Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill litigation.

Steve teaches an advanced torts seminar on class actions at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and an advanced civil procedure course in complex litigation at Tulane University Law School. He has given numerous speeches on consumer fraud, tobacco, maritime, and managed care litigation; complex discovery, electronic discovery, and spoliation; preemption, privilege, trial preparation, deposition strategy, motion practice, legal ethics and professionalism, class actions, and complex litigation. He is the author of America and the Law: Challenges for the 21st Century, and he maintains a What’s New in the Courts law blog (or “blawg”) at GravierHouse.com.

Steve is a fellow of both the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL) and the Litigation Counsel of America, and he is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). He is a past president of the Louisiana Association for Justice (LAJ), and he currently serves as Chair of the organization’s Amicus Curiae Committee. He is also an active member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), currently serving both as Chair of its Amicus Curiae Committee and—since 2014—as a Louisiana representative on the Board of Governors. Most recently, the AAJ board elected Steve as a member of the 2025-26 AAJ Executive Committee.

Steve served as the 2023-24 President of the New Orleans Bar Association. He is the Chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Section on Class Action, Mass Tort, and Complex Litigation, and he currently serves on the standing LSBA Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. Steve also served for six years as a Lawyer Chair for one of the Louisiana Disciplinary Board Hearing Committees, and he is a patron fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Steve is a former Louisiana Appleseed board member, a former Southeast Louisiana Legal Services board member, and a past president of both the National Civil Justice Institute (formerly the Pound Civil Justice Institute) and the Civil Justice Foundation.

In 2017, Steve was presented with the Stalwart Award, LAJ’s highest honor, and in 2018 he received the Harry Philo Award from the AAJ. He was named a finalist for the Public Justice (formerly the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice) Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2005.

Steve is ranked Band 1 in Chambers USA (Louisiana) for Litigation: Mainly Plaintiffs and Band 4 (Nationwide) for Product Liability: Plaintiffs. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in many categories, including “Lawyer of the Year” in New Orleans for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs. Steve has also been recognized as a Top 10 Louisiana Lawyer by Super Lawyers since 2021. He has been recognized by other publications, as well, including Lawdragon, National Law Journal Elite, New Orleans Magazine Top Lawyers, and Who’s Who. Steve was named a New Orleans CityBusiness Leadership-in-the-Law (LiL) Recipient in 2010, 2017, and 2018 before being inducted into the Hall of Fame.